Food, Talk, Dice: Hey, It's Bunco Time!

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Each bunco party is as different as the women playing it. Most parties rotate hosting duties and all include food, but the fare can run from a lavish meal complete with china and linen to a potluck buffet. Some adopt a theme for each month's meeting, like a haunted house with all the players wearing Halloween costumes.

Many groups play for prizes rather than cash, but a few have begun sharing the booty further afield. When Mary Green of Clarendon Hills, Ill., was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999, her bunco mates decided to raise money for breast-cancer research. They started off by donating one month's cash pot to research, then passed the idea on to other bunco groups. Last year Bunco for Breast Cancer, as it is now called, raised $32,000 for the cause from 90 groups in surrounding DuPage County. This year the group has raised $70,000 from 400 groups in 20 states and Singapore.

It's enough to restore bunco's good name. --With reporting by Daren Fonda/Colleyville, Adam Pitluk/Dallas, Deirdre van Dyk/New York and Leslie Whitaker/Chicago Bunco